Two of the nation's hottest political topics -- illegal immigration and health coverage -- merged in the Legislature when the Senate approved and sent to the Assembly a measure to provide access to government-sanctioned health care to undocumented immigrants. The action drew attention from across the country.
The Bay Area News Group's Tracy Seipel has the tale: "A first-in-the-nation bill aimed at expanding health care for undocumented immigrants sailed through the Senate on Tuesday even as some lawmakers acknowledged that thousands of legal residents are having to struggle to access health care through the state’s Medi-Cal program."
"In a 28-11 vote, a newly pared-down version of Senate Bill 4 by Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, would let undocumented Californians buy health insurance with their own money through the state’s Covered California exchange if the state is given a waiver by the federal government. It would also allow anyone age 18 and under to enroll in Medi-Cal regardless of immigration status — and let undocumented immigrants age 19 and up enroll in Medi-Cal if there’s money provided in the state budget."
"We are here today trying to address this critical issue that is vital to the success of our California: ... providing care to our undocumented community,” Lara told colleagues before the vote. “The time has come for us to lead.”
Meanwhile, in the park outside the Capitol, thousands of demonstrators gathered to demand an increase in funding for Medi-Cal, which has added millions of people for health coverage as state-federal changes have gone into effect.
From the AP's Julia Horowitz: "Labor unions and doctors who organized the rally said improving health care should be a priority as the Legislature prepares to dig into Brown's proposed $115 billion budget next week."
"In 2011, California cut the payment rates for health care providers who serve Medi-Cal patients by 10 percent. Now, providers and patients are calling for an end to austerity as the state economy recovers, arguing that the number of participating doctors continues to drop, driving up wait times."
"Emily Abila, 28, of Cathedral City, said she couldn't find a doctor to treat her seizures for six months, leaving her unable to drive or work."
Just before he left office in January 2011, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order that shaved years off the murder sentence of the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. Yesterday, a court weighed in on Schwarzenegger's controversial action.
From the Bee's Denny Walsh: "The way former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger handled his drastic reduction of Esteban Nunez’s prison sentence was not illegal but could be seen as “grossly unjust,” a Sacramento appellate court ruled Tuesday."
"Without notifying the prosecutors and the crime victims, Schwarzenegger granted a clemency application that reduced the sentence to seven years. The governor’s executive order was signed on Dec. 30, 2010, but not announced until hours before he left office on Jan. 2, 2011..."
"The victims, their families and prosecutors were stunned by the commutation, and some members of the Legislature voiced outrage."
From Debbie L. Sklar of the City News Service: "The 75-year-old Hayden said Monday he suffered the stroke on May 21 when he was in Kern County “with a group of people concerned about the effects of fracking and oil drilling.”
"Hayden was a founder of the Students for a Democratic Society in 1961, wrote the group’s Port Huron Statement, was a leader in demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention against U.S involvement in the Vietnam War and a defendant in the Chicago 8 case."
"Hayden served in the Assembly from 1982-92 and the state Senate from 1992-2000. He also made unsuccessful runs for the Democratic nomination for senator in 1976 and governor in 1994 and lost races for mayor of Los Angeles in 1997 and a City Council seat in 2001."
San Francisco, which has had high rents since the Gold Rush, has got even higher rents now -- so high, in fact, that even well-paid Silicon Valley geeks are starting to flee.
The Chronicle's Anna Marie Erwart: "... According to Zillow, the new median rent in San Francisco is $4,225 a month.Zillow’s data compose the “Zillow Rental Index” (ZRI). This index shows rents up 16% year-over-year (YOY) this April, and take into account all types of rentals in San Francisco proper, from single family homes to condos to in-laws."
"The whole Bay Area, in fact, shows a rental market on fire. Increased rents in Oakland (up 21.6% YOY); Berkeley (up 30.9% YOY); Emeryville (up 29.5 YOY); San Jose (up 14% YOY) and even Daly City (up 201.1% YOY) make the San Francisco Metropolitan region the fastest growing rental market in the USA."
"Each month seems to bring fresh horror for renters in San Francisco– reportedly, even well paid tech employees are looking elsewhere at this point. We have to ask, readers, at what point is “too high” actually too high?"
And, finally, from our "You've Got to Be Kidding File," comes word of a crime-fighting program in Richmond, Calif., that used public money to pay the bad guys to behave themselves. That's what we said.
"When officials in Richmond, Calif., learned in 2009 that 70 percent of the city's murders and firearms assaults were directly linked to 17 people, they decided on a bold program: to pay off those 17 to behave themselves."
"For a budget of about $1.2 million a year, the program offers individual coaching, health care coverage and several hundred dollars a month in stipends to former thugs who stick to their "life map" of personal goals and conflict-resolution training. According to an April report on National Public Radio's "This American Life," Richmond is no longer among the most dangerous towns in America, with the murder rate in fact having fallen from its all-time yearly high of 62 to 11 last year."
Money talks ....
